Promise
by CrystalRose727
Summary: Tokka Week: Day Seven “Then promise that you will practice then.” He thought for a moment. Perhaps an incentive would prove useful. “If you do….Next time I’ll give you whatever you want”


Tokka Week: Day 7

**Promise**

_AN: Woooow, an entire summer without writing anything on . I will eventually get back into things. This is just a short fic to go along with DeviantArt's Tokka Week. The final day is themed "Promise". Here is my take on it:_

_Enjoy,_

_CR_

* * *

It was autumn in the Earth kingdom, trees were beginning to changes colors and the heated air of summer was slowly being repla

It was autumn in the Earth kingdom, trees were beginning to changes colors and the heated air of summer was slowly being replaced by a chilly breeze. Instead of the clear blue hue of the summer skies, clouds gathered over Ba Sing Se signaling that a brief storm would soon be on the way. From inside a small estate in the upper ring of the city a teenaged girl sighed and shifted in her spot. She was currently sitting on a soft bench, staring blankly out of a window that she could not see. Her legs were curled close to her body and her hands were folded upon the windowsill patiently. But instead of waiting as if something was going to happen, Toph Bei Fong was actually deep into thought.

It was autumn, which meant that the war had officially ended. The day of the black sun and Sozin's comet had come and gone and Aang had proven victorious in the end. The former Firelord Ozai and his psychotic daughter Azula had been thrown in prison and now a new leader had been instated to rule the Fire nation, and Zuko was doing an excellent job as it. Things were slowly calming down and going back to normal but instead of being welcoming of the stable life that had been reinstalled in the young girl was uneasy.

Now that the world had been saved, and all the nations had united there was not much more for her to do except go back home. She supposed when she got there she would be greeted with a wave a hugs and kisses before being banished to her bedroom for an eternity. She would then continue her life as it was left so many months ago, as a well kept secret.

The girl shifted in her spot uncomfortably and placed a hand on the pane of the window she was behind. How she hated to be locked up...There was no way she was going to survive behind the walls of her home again. But sadly she had no choice. Aang and Katara were going to travel to the South to spend time with Katara's grandmother and her former master turned grandfather. They would be attending the elder's wedding as well as probably celebrating their own newfound relationship. Zuko and his girlfriend (Mai was it?) were to return back to the Fire Nation capital to take up their duties as Firelord and the soon to be firelady. Meanwhile Sokka had announced that he was accompanying Suki back to Kyoshi Island for a while in order to rest and relax and perhaps rekindle their relationship that had been suffering a bit because of the stress of the end of the war. The blind eathbender inwardly scowled at that statement, knowing what Sokka trip would probably entail. Truthfully she had no real ill will towards the female warrior but she couldn't help but to feel at least a bit of hostility towards someone who she often knew spent time occupying Sokka's tent and bedroom. Somewhere deep inside of her she knew she still harbored feelings for the boy….And it was annoying….Especially when said boy had a girlfriend that he was extremely happy with. She grimaced.

She was even more uneasy about leaving Sokka then she was about going home…

Now it was just a matter of time before everyone parted ways, in fact it was today that everyone would leave Ba Sing Se for their respected locations. They had already had their short time of goodbyes, each saying how much they would miss each other and things of that nature but she did not exactly feel satisfied. They were now leaving and soon enough Toph herself would travel along with Iroh who insisted accompanying her back to her home in Gaoling. He wanted to join her on her trip back in order to spend time with the girl and to see the beautiful city that she was born in. Usually she would harshly refuse any chaperone on the trip to her estate but Iroh was not like most guides. She actually enjoyed spending time talking and drinking tea with the old Dragon, he was interesting and did not take interest in babying her.

"Miss Toph, are you ready?" Toph looked up from her spot and turned around to face the voice that had just presented itself to her. She had been caught by surprise since her feet were against the soft cushion of the bench she was perched upon, but because the old voice was familiar she did not worry.

"Just Toph" she corrected softly, standing from her spot and stretching her arms above her head. The old man laughed and nodded.

"Of course. Are you ready to leave Toph?"

"Are the others gone yet?"

"Of course not, I doubt they would take off without saying their goodbyes to you. But it did look like they were getting Appa ready to depart."

"Oh we already said goodbye" She dismissed softly with a wave of her hand.

"That may be true but perhaps it would be a good time to go out and see them, just one more time." As if on some sort of strange cue a low grumble came from outside as well as an annoyed sounding exclamation from a familiar warrior. Toph felt herself go a bit warm in the face. Iroh noticed the sudden change in hue of the girl but decided to say nothing.

"I'll be ready to leave in just a second; I think I will go see them"

Iroh nodded and the raven haired girl rushed past him and out the door. He just smiled knowingly and went back to getting ready for the long trip.

* * *

"Come on Appa, just lean down for a sec! This stuff is heavy!"

A dark skinned teenaged boy holding a rather large sleeping bag and a couple of pots was standing by the large flying bison, swaying every now and again with the massive weight in his hands. With each demand to lie down Appa only grunted, it seemed as if he was preoccupied with a large tree of moon peaches. Sokka groaned and finally dropped the contents of his hands by the bison's foot, giving up on getting it packed for the time. He turned to his girlfriend who was sitting nearby, her own—much smaller—pack resting over one shoulder. She smiled at the warrior and he did the same.

"You just about ready Suki?"

She nodded and ran a hand through her hair. "What about you?"

"Just about. It's going to be weird not being in Ba Sing Se anymore"

"Yeah, but it'll be nice to be back in Kyoshi. I'm sure everyone will be glad to see us both"

Sokka sat down next to his girlfriend and rested an arm across her shoulders coolly. She giggled softly and leaned her head against him. The two sat like that for a short time until Katara and Aang emerged from the estate hand in hand. Both had a set of their own bags on their shoulders and looked as if they were just about ready to go themselves. Katara watched her brother and his girlfriend with an amused expression.

"Okay you two, get up so we can get going" Katara requested as Aang parted from her to airbend Sokka's pile of items upon the distracted bison's back. Sokka and Suki did as they were told and stood up, but instead of hopping upon Appa's back they looked back at the estate they had spent so much time in.

"So are you ready?" Suki now asked him

He stood thinking for a second before changing his mind and shaking his head. There was something else, one more thing he had to do…He smiled. "I'll be right back okay?"

* * *

Toph wondered if the others would leave without saying goodbye to her. Of course they had already done so but one more time wouldn't hurt right? As she rushed down the hall of the estate she frowned worriedly. Finally she reached the doorway of the estate, the cool air meeting her face and the warm earth against her feet. With a smile he stood and waited as a familiar figure rushed to her. It was the figure that made her heart pound rather hard….She shook her head to try to clear her thoughts and nerves.

"Toph!"

"Hey Sokka, you guys aren't gone yet?"

"About to, I thought I would come say bye before we left"

"We already did that Snoozles"

"Well one more time doesn't hurt right?"

……

The two stood facing each other in silence. Finally Sokka piped up.

"Will you be okay going back home alone? I mean Suki and I could always-"

"I'll be fine" she replied offhandedly with an uncaring grin "Iroh will be taking me tonight. You and Suki just have fun and don't do anything stupid. I don't want to have to meet any boomerang wielding babies next time I see you."

Sokka chuckled embarrassedly "Yeah….Sure thing Toph. Uhhh you have fun too okay? Try not to put your parents through too much misery."

"I can make no guarantees"

The two shared a short laugh but soon the room fell back into the now awkward silence. This time Toph decided to break the stillness between the too.

"I'm going to miss causing trouble with you; you know annoying Katara and all that stuff." She shifted in her spot feeling the warmth return to her cheeks. Sokka watched on with curiosity "And don't go replacing me with your girlfriend; I doubt she can wreak havoc like me and you."

"I'm going to miss you too, and don't worry, I'll reserve all the trouble making until I can see you again."

"Will you write?" She asked softy

"Do you want me to?" Sokka replied

"Of course, just don't write anything that you don't want someone else to read aloud. It's going to be the only bit of the outside world I will have. I would write too but….You know"

"Yeah, but hey you're the most talented eathbender in the world, maybe one day you'll be able to write!"

Toph raised an eyebrow "Earthbending and writing have nothing in common Sokka, I highly doubt it"

"Hey, I'm just throwing ideas out there." The young man reasoned. "Just promise me, if you ever do learn how to write you'll write me a huge letter."

"Whatever"

Sokka frowned and took her hand which caught the small earthbender by surprise. He quickly pulled her back into the estate taking her into a small room that she doubted she had ever gone in. It was small and cramp with a large wooden desk sitting right in the middle. In a swift motion he pressed her down onto a wooden chair and scooted it up so that she was sitting at the desk. He then placed a large piece of parchment in front of her. Toph looked at Sokka like he had been drinking the cactus juice again.

"And what do you expect me to do with this?" She questioned. He didn't answer; instead he took a nearby brush, dipped it into a vat of ink, and placed it in the blind girl's hand. Once again she looked at him like he was seriously drunk. "Once again…..What do you expect me to do with this Snoozles?"

"Just give me a second okay?" He then clasped his own hand over hers—for the third time that day her faces became warm—and placed it down on the sheet of paper. Slowly he ran the brush in a series of simple strokes and eventually after a few moments he moved her hand away from the paper. He grinned and patted the girl on the back. "See. I told you that you could write"

"You wrote dummy, I just held the brush. What did you write anyways?

"Your name of course. Here, now we'll try mine."

Following a similar process Sokka proceeded to create his own name through her hands, eventually creating a couple of strokes that wrote it out. Though it was not perfect he was happy with the end result of shaky lines and curves that squiggled a bit.

The entire time Toph found herself paying close attention to the strokes…Though she could not remember them both in entirety she had a rough idea of the sequence of both names.

"Show me again"

"What?"

"Show me how to do them again"

So he did. Over and over he wrote the two names until he lost track of time and his hands grew tired. While the two wrote neither spoke, instead the silence was used so that Toph could memorize. They only stopped when Suki's voice was heard echoing the halls, calling for him to finally come on. Apparently the others were already loaded upon Appa's back and ready to leave and now they were just waiting for the warrior. When he dropped her hand Toph frowned and stood, following him back to their original spot outside of the estate.

"So Toph, if you ever learn how to write do you promise to write me?"

"Sokka I barely know how to write two names"

"Then promise that you will practice then." He thought for a moment. Perhaps an incentive would prove useful. "If you do….Next time I'll give you whatever you want"

She thought it over and finally nodded "……Fine, I promise Snoozles…"

"Good" He then took the smaller girl into his arms and embraced her tightly. Despite stiffening in his arms Toph found herself embracing the boy back and fighting the urge to cry.

And with that Sokka and the others left on the back of Appa. Toph stood, feet planted firmly on the ground finally allowing herself to cry just a tiny bit as Iroh stood behind her watching silently.

"Hey Iroh"

"Yes?"

"Could you help me with something when we get to Gaoling?"

* * *

Three months had passed since the gang had parted ways, and it had been three long months of practice for the young blind girl. Even after Iroh had left she continued to practice, forcing maids, servants, and anyone else that would pay attention to her to help her write out the same two names over and over….She had even began to learn other words that were sometime featured in Sokka's many letters. Every time he wrote one he reminded her of their promises but she merely ignored it until one day when in the early winter.

It arrived on Kyoshi Island on a cold day, by a messenger that Sokka had never seen. He delivered a small dirty piece of parchment that was sealed with a familiar name. Sokka doubted that he had ever opened something quite as fast.

Rolled up was actually several pieces of parchment, each containing the same two words hundreds of times, written in different sizes and shapes. On the last parchment was the two names written perfectly. He grinned in recognition.

But there was one more thing….

On the bottom of the last piece, below the two names was a sentence that he couldn't help but smile at. It was horribly messy (he supposed she hadn't practiced it quite as much as their names) but he knew what each character read. He would have to keep this out of the eyes of Suki.

_**I promised…**__**You promised…..Now you owe me a kiss. **_

* * *


End file.
